Twice a Rizzoli, twice an Isles
by Laoise Potter
Summary: Cousins, enemies, relationships and a deadly game. Bring Your Family To Work Day: it's never as simple as it seems.  Rizzisles friendship/playful flirtation/drama and angst
1. Chapter 1

It was Korsak's idea.

Jane couldn't believe Cavanaugh had gone along with it and was actually forcing everybody to participate. Seriously? Bring Your Family To Work Day? Her two closest family members already worked in the same building as she, wasn't that enough?

"Bring some obscure cousin, Rizzoli, I don't care who it is as long as you do it."

"Korsak, do you really think you could deal with another one of us around here?" Jane jumped up onto the desk and gestured to herself. "This, not to mention Ma and Frankie, isn't enough for you?"

"Come on, Rizzoli, it's just a day," Frost countered, leaning back in his chair. "I'm bringing my nephew Alfie."

Jane snorted. "How old is he? Four?"

"Seventeen," Frost scowled. "Black belt. Strong enough to take down my two hundred pound, rock solid brother-in-law with one hit, actually."

Jane shrugged. "Whatever. I'm not doing it."

"Not doing what?"

Jane rolled her eyes at her friend walking through the door. "Nothing, Maura."

"Your agitated expression and aggressive demeanor suggest otherwise," Maura quipped, and smiled around the room. "Hey Korsak, Frost."

"Dr. Isles," Frost greeted and shot a teasing smile at Jane. "Who are you bringing to Bring Your Family To Work Day?"

Maura smiled. "My cousin, Nora, from southeastern Massachusetts. My uncle is letting her stay with me for a month." The ME leaned against Jane's dangling legs, facing Korsak and Frost. "She's looking for an adventure before she goes off to college."

"Nora Isles?" Jane raised her eyebrows at the back of the doctor's head. "Is that a coincidence, or-?"

"You mean about our names rhyming?" Maura folded her hands. "Purely coincidental. The name Nora means 'light' or 'honor'. Originating from the Middle East, it was made popular by and is most associated with the Irish culture. Two of the most famous women in our society with that name actually spell it two different ways. Nora Roberts, the author, spells her first name the traditional way, while Norah Jones, the singer-"

Jane began to prod Maura's head in various places.

"-spells her name with an 'h' at the end...Jane, what are you doing?"

"Trying to find the off button," Jane muttered seriously as she poked Maura behind her ear.

"I don't have one, Jane," Maura said good-naturedly, batting her friend's hand away. "But I can change the flow of conversation, if you'd prefer."

"Yeah, that would be great," the detective sighed sarcastically.

"Okay." Maura twisted around to face the woman on the desk. "Who are YOU bringing to BYFTW?"

Jane dropped her arm and looked at her friend incredulously. "Seriously? An acronym?"

Maura shrugged. "Less syllables, easier on the tongue. Acronyms have actually been proven to improve pronunciation and help repair speech impediment."

"Okay, seriously-" Jane grouched, now using both hands to dig at the ME.

Maura began to dodge her friend's actions and gestured towards her mouth innocently. "It also makes the tongue more flexible and easier to use for tasks other than speaking."

Frost and Korsak snorted. Struggling twice as hard for control, Jane shot them a death stare. "Really, guys? What are you, twelve?"

"What, it was funny!"

"Yeah, and speak for yourself, Rizzoli."

Jane had grabbed a struggling Maura around the waist with her legs and was currently holding her in a headlock. "I had no idea what you're talking about."

"Oh yeah, you radiate maturity," Frost said with a smile, pushing himself to his feet. "I'm going for coffee. Anybody want anything?"

"Decaf, cream and one sugar," replied Korsak.

"I'll take caffeinated, cream on the side," said Jane.

"Just a tea, for me, please," said Maura, her head tilted awkwardly to the side. "With a side of get-off-me-Jane, if you would."

"Right," Frost grinned at the two women, heading out the door. "I'll be back."

Korsak stood as well. "I'm gonna go check in with Cavanaugh, see who put their name down for"-he winked at Jane-"BYFTW." He pointed to Maura seriously. "Get her name on that list."

The ME smiled. "Of course, sir."

Once Korsak left, she poked Jane's thigh. "You know you're not getting out of this easily."

Jane tipped her head to see her friend's face more clearly. "Then YOU'RE not getting out of THIS easily."

Maura considered for a second. "Fine."

And with a firm grip under the taller detective's knees, Maura pulled away from the desk, taking Jane with her.

"Whoa, girl!" The detective exclaimed in surprise, loosening the headlock to get a better grip around Maura's shoulders. "Where are you taking me?"

"Downstairs to see your mother about getting you a family member," Maura replied with a slight grin, ignoring the looks they were getting on their way to the elevator.

"Ugh, whatever. Hey, when did you get so strong?"

"Well, though you're taller than me, you're light," Maura explained, shifting Jane's weight to her left and jabbing the elevator button with her right hand. "A little bit of 'mind over matter' goes a long way as well."

"Gee, thanks, you really know how to sweet-talk a girl."

Maura laughed and carried Jane into the elevator when the doors opened. "It also helped that I grew up in suburban Boston with two brothers to keep me on my toes."

Jane looked at the back of her friend's head incredulously. "What?"

Dr. Isles grinned slyly as the doors slid shut. "Oh, wait...that was you."

"Maura...MAURA-!"

THUD.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: Hello fellow R&I fans! :) So this is my first fanfiction on this site, and I just want to give a big thank you go all of you who added this story, it really means a lot to me! Thank you especially to Swishla, ald2106, AliasSpyCrazy and jaik for your lovely reviews :) I'm trying a different method of writing for this fic by finishing one chapter and starting on the next before I update, and I'm hoping it'll encourage me to write faster. I'm starting college very soon, though, so things may not pick up until mid-September. I hope you'll all stick with me though!

BTW, I don't own R&I.

Well, that's enough chatter. On to chapter 2! :)

-

"Jane, quit rubbing your rear end. It's not attractive and it makes you look like you have some kind of problem."

Jane scowled at her mother across the counter. "It's work, Ma. Being attractive doesn't matter here." She glared pointedly at Maura. "And it's not every day that one gets dropped in the elevator."

They were in the coffee shop on the ground floor of headquarters. Stan was on break and not many cops were hanging around, so the two friends were free to converse with Jane's mother.

Angela Rizzoli gawked at Maura. "What were you doing carrying her in the elevator?"

"Oh wait, I can make this real simple for all of us," Jane bit sarcastically before Maura could open her mouth. "Let's see..." She began to tick off her fingers. "Blah blah blah, desk, blah blah blah, talking Google, blah blah blah, headlock-"

"You put her in a headlock?"

"-blah blah blah, lifted up, blah blah blah, dropped." Jane waved her arm. "Now you take Maura's side, I protest no Ma it wasn't my fault, yada yada, your word is God, now tell me who I should bring for this family day thing."

Angela clicked her tongue and pouted a little. "You know, sometimes you're not very nice to me."

Jane sighed. "Come on, Ma, just tell me who to bring!"

"I have no idea," Angela shrugged, busily refilling napkin dispensers. "Tommy wouldn't want to spend a whole day arm-in-arm with the law, and God forbid your father come within a hundred yards of me." She sighed heavily and looked at Maura. "You're bringing the cousin that's coming to stay with us, right, sweetie?"

"Nora, yes."

"And she just got out of high school?"

"She graduated a couple weeks ago."

"There you go, then, Jane," Angela said with a wave of her hand. "Invite your cousin Anne, she just graduated, too. They should get on well with each other."

Maura looked mildly surprised. "I didn't know you had cousins around here, Jane."

"I'm Italian, I have cousins everywhere."

Angela picked up her cell phone and tossed it to her daughter. "Here. Call your Uncle Marius. Ask Anne if she wants to come and stay the rest of the month."

"Aw, Ma..."

"Ask her, Jane," Angela ordered with a glare. "And while you're at it, tell Marius I want my good lasagna pan back, he's had it since Thanksgiving."

Jane rolled her eyes and walked off with the phone to her ear. Maura settled against the counter, smiling at her friend's retreating form. "A little untraditional, having lasagna for Thanksgiving, isn't it?"

"Frank's father insisted it be kept in the family. The Rizzoli's make their own traditions," Angela replied with a wry grin.

"I can see that." Maura leaned back and called across the precinct's coffee shop, "Like physically abusing anybody who speaks for longer than twelve seconds in your presence?"

"I heard that, jerk! No, not you, Uncle Marius..."

Maura laughed and waved when she noticed Frost come through the door. "Traffic okay?"

"Smooth sailing all the way to the corner," Frost replied. He placed one of the four lidded Styrofoam coffee cups in front of Maura. "Thanks for not making me balance this upstairs. Where's Korsak?"

"Talking to Cavanaugh about BYFTW," Maura replied, taking a sip of her tea.

"And Rizzoli?"

Maura gestured toward the window where Jane was still on the phone. "Tracking down a family member who doesn't work here."

"Ah, so you finally talked her into doing it?"

"I didn't give her much of a choice."

Frost's eyebrows furrowed. "And by that you mean...?"

Maura shrugged and lifted the tea to her lips. "I carried her piggyback out of the office and dropped her in the elevator."

Frost whistled. "Man...you've got balls, Doc."

Maura frowned. "No, I don't. It's genetically impossible."

Freezing with his coffee cup to his mouth, Frost shot Angela a helpless look. The elder Rizzoli smiled, amused, and reached over the counter to pat Maura's arm. "He didn't mean it literally, dear."

"Oh..." Maura looked from one to the other curiously. "You meant it to be a parallel of boldness and fearlessness?"

Frost sighed. "Yes."

The ME smiled. "Well, then I suppose I agree with you."

"Uncle Marius wants to talk to you," Jane said, returning to the three of them with the phone in her outstretched hand. "He said she could come as long as you're around."

Angela nodded and took the phone. "How are you, Marius?"

Jane slumped against the counter. "It's not like I'm a homicide detective and can easily protect a teenager from harm, or anything," she grumbled, rubbing her forehead irritatedly.

Maura gave her a mild grin. "According to Frost, I have balls."

Jane froze. Her eyes darted from Maura, innocent as ever, to Frost, who had quite nearly spit out his coffee at the ME's declaration. "What did you do to her?"

The detective shrugged. Jane groaned. "Forget it, just go give Korsak his coffee."

Shaking his head, Frost placed one of the remaining coffees on the counter next to Jane, waved to Angela, and left the dining area. Jane picked up her drink and turned to Maura. "You know, sometimes being with you is like being with a five-year-old who swallowed the Encyclopedia Brittanica," she mused, taking a long swallow of coffee.

Maura thought for a moment. "You do know that it's physically impossible to-"

"Yes, Doctor Isles, I KNOW that it's not possible to swallow a book!" Jane burst out, dropping her head into both hands. "God, I hate slow weeks."

"Be careful what you wish for, Janie," Angela said as she reappeared across from the pair. "Anyways, Marius said he can send Anne on Monday morning and she can stay until the eighth."

"Of next month?" Jane said, surprised. She glanced towards the calendar on the wall. "It's only the fourteenth. Jesus, that's three weeks!"

"Well, if you can't handle Anne for that long, I could easily take her in," Angela remarked somewhat pompously, giving her daughter a look as she wiped down her work area.

"Ma, I'm sure I can handle living with a teenager," Jane replied, pushing her hair back off her face restlessly. "I did it twice, remember? And they were both smelly, obnoxious boys? I'm sure Anne will be a walk in the park compared to Frankie and Tommy."

"Mmhmm. Just remember, taking care of another human being is not like caring for Jo Friday."

"Ma, I'm not stupid. I'll remember to take Anne for a walk more than three times a day."

Maura laughed as Angela snapped a towel at her daughter. "Keep talking like that and when the time comes I'll raise my grandchildren by myself!"

"Yeah, yeah," Jane said with a smirk, rubbing her arm where the towel hit. "At least I have this weekend to prepare."

Maura turned to her, surprised. "You have the weekend off as well?"

"Yeah, for once."

The ME broke into a wide smile. "Nora is arriving tomorrow night. You can come with us to yoga Saturday morning!"

Jane groaned. "Dear Lord..."

"No, look, it'll be fun, Jane! You could spend Saturday and Sunday getting to know her, and then she and I will meet Anne on Monday. It works out perfectly!"

"What, you think I'll need more time to get to know your cousin than you'll need to know mine?"

Maura considered for a moment. "Well, due to my intensive study of the human body and brain, I'm usually able to get a pretty good read on people when I first meet them."

"You would be SUCH a help solving murders, then."

"Don't be mean. Anyways, the age similarities between Nora and Anne make them automatically relatable in more than one sense. For example, they're both going off to college. Their lives are about to change dramatically as they mature into the adults they were meant to be."

"And they both probably hate their parents," said Jane. "Come on, Maura, for all you know, they could be as different as night and day."

Maura smiled and tapped her friend's arm. "You mean like us?"

Jane grumbled incomprehensibly in response. Satisfied, Maura turned to Angela. "I can't WAIT til Monday."

Angela grinned back.

"RIZZOLI!"

The elder Rizzoli winced. "Uh-oh."

Stan, the coffee shop owner, stomped past the conversing women. "I'm not paying you to stand around and socialize! There's a line forming, go take their orders!"

"The warden is back from his break," Angela muttered under her breath, glancing over at the cash register. "Tsk, there's barely a wait at all." With a heavy sigh, she made a shooing motion at her daughter. "You two should skedaddle before Stan takes my head off."

"Yeah, Ma. Thanks for everything," Jane said, a bit sarcastically, as she stood. "I'll let you know how the preparations are going."

As Jane turned away, Angela cocked her head pointedly. "Ahem!"

"Ugh, not in the mood, Ma," the detective called over her shoulder, leaving the cafe without further hesitation.

Angela's face fell. Maura glanced from the door to her best friend's mother and offered a comforting smile. "She has a lot on her mind," Maura said in what she hoped was a reassuring tone. "You know, with the slowness of the week, and this family day, and the threat of socializing...and..."

The ME trailed off as the hurt didn't leave Angela's expression. Thinking on her feet, Maura leaned across the counter and kissed her surrogate mother on the cheek. "I'll pass it on," she promised, picking up her tea and turning away with another small grin.

"See that you do," Angela said, sounding marginally happier.

"Rizzoli!"

"I'm coming, for goodness sake!"

Maura sighed and hurried out the door, towards the elevator her friend was boarding. "Jane!"


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: Hello again! So, my internet at college is quite hormonal, and likes to give out on me every few hours or so. Updates may come less frequently than hoped :/ I hope you stay with me though! Megathanks to freezingren, LiveLoveLikeMe and muderocksmyworld who reviewed chapter 2 :) I love hearing what you guys think! Oh, just a btw: this story disregards some of the event that occurred in later episodes of season 2.

Errr, disclaimer? Anne agus Nora bhfuil mianach, but nothing else.

And onward we go!

When Jane arrived at Maura's house on Saturday morning, reluctantly garbed in a sweatshirt, sports bra and yoga pants, Nora was nowhere to be seen.

"Am I about to find out that this cousin of yours is some sort of projection type thing that your brain created while in overdrive one day?" Jane asked skeptically, flopping gracelessly onto Maura's couch to stare around the room.

"In other words, you want to know if Nora is imaginary?" Maura let out a sigh, capping three water bottles on the counter. "Jane, I'm not that crazy. She's in the guest room, getting dressed."

"Still?" Jane glanced at the clock and clicked her tongue. "Doesn't give us much time to get a read on each other, now, does it?"

"Well, to be truthful, you're the one I'm worried about," Maura confessed, coming over to join her friend on the couch. "Nora is a natural at accurate thin-slicing and listening with her eyes. She's also what people call a 'truth wizard', so I don't think she'll have a problem with you at all, aside from what naturally may be there."

Jane looked at Maura like she had just sprouted another head. "Definitions, please, Webster."

"Thin-slicing is the act of passing reasonable judgment based on a split-second analysis of a situation. Listening with your eyes is an extension of that, whereas the analysis of a subject or situation extends into the conscious mind and focuses on the body language of the people or person one is communicating with. Did you know that both concepts were studied and documented by Malcolm Gladwell, among several other psychologists—"

"Maura!" Jane barked, causing the ME to cease talking with a jump and frown.

"You're in a mood this week. No wonder your mother is still mad at you."

Jane groaned. "God, what did I do this time?"

"You didn't say goodbye to her in the café! Oh, that reminds me…" Maura leaned over and kissed the detective on the cheek.

"Gah!" Jane jumped further down the couch and rubbed her cheek furiously. "_Maura!_ What was _that?_"

"I'm passing it on!" Maura explained, looking mildly offended. "Geez, good thing I didn't mean it."

"Augh, Maura…" Jane gave the spot where the ME's lips landed one last wipe. She was eager to change the subject. "So basically, you're telling me that this girl is going to be in my head from the second I meet her?"

Maura sighed, still somewhat agitated. "Not necessarily form the very second, but yes, as closed off from the world as you may be, she can read you like a book."

"Wonderful." Jane stood and went into the kitchen while Maura followed. "We have one Isles who can't lie, and another one who can always tell when you're lying." Jane paused, hands around the water bottles. "That's what a truth wizard is, right?"

Maura blinked in surprise. "I'm impressed, Jane. Research?"

The detective shrugged. "Lucky guess."

There was a noise from the hallway that caused both women to turn. A teenage girl stood patiently at the edge of the kitchen, a friendly glint in her eye. "I found Bass under my bed, Maura, and gave him some food," she said.

"Oh…thank you , Nora, I was wondering where he had gone off to," Maura replied, taking the water bottles out of Jane's hands and moving towards the front door with a quick play-nicely glare at the detective. "Nora, this is Jane."

"Of course." Nora Isles' smile grew wider as she stepped into the kitchen and extended a hand. "It's nice to meet you, Jane. Or would you prefer Detective Rizzoli?"

Jane felt herself grin as she took the younger Isles' hand. "Jane is fine. Nice to meet you too."

Their handshake may have lasted a couple seconds longer than necessary, with both participants studying each other swiftly. Jane found herself oddly drawn to the girl's physical stature: she wasn't beautiful by any stretch of the imagination, but there was something alluring about her nonetheless. The detective knew that, as an Isles, Nora's father's heritage was almost completely British Isles European, but dark hair, large brown eyes and tan skin tones implied that the girl was of close Spanish descent. She had full lips and undefined cheekbones, giving a fleeting impression of childlike innocence—but Jane wasn't so quickly fooled. Nora's eyes were masked and observant, and Jane found herself wondering just how much the girl was taking in with out letting anything out.

Indeed, Nora Isles was studying Jane Rizzoli, but not with suspicion. From everything she had heard about the woman from her cousin, Nora found Jane an immensely complex and interesting creature and was determined to learn more about her. A split second sweep of the detective's face told the young Isles all she needed to know: Jane was a shielded, somewhat troubled but altogether kindly soul with a dark secret and something to prove. Instinctively and almost accidentally, Nora's fingers brushed the scar under Jane's knuckles.

The detective felt the miniscule shift and pulled out of the handshake as causally as she could, trying to ignore her suddenly tingling skin. Spotting Maura making a face at her over Nora's shoulder, Jane quickly composed herself and said, "So, you're into yoga as well?"

Nora's lips curved into a noncommittal half-grimace. "Not so much, but Maura seems to enjoy it, so I thought I'd give it a try. You?"

"Oh, not at all." Jane shook her head, crossed her arms, and leaned in a little. "I only do it to keep her from spontaneously combusting under the pressure of being alone in public."

"I heard that." Maura approached the two and put a hand possessively on her cousin's shoulder. "Ready to go?"

"Yeah," Nora said with an amused smile at Jane.

"Let's do it." The detective couldn't keep a responding grin from creeping onto her face as she followed the two Isles' out the door. What was it about this girl?

Some twenty minutes later, the two and a half women were poised in the torturous position Jane was forced to call "Downward Dog".

"I can't feel anything from my hips down," Jane hissed, partially to herself.

"Ugh, join the club," Nora whispered back, rocking on the balls of her feet. "Maurs, how can you like this stuff?"

"Shh, you two." Maura had her eyes shut and looked quite relaxed. "Focus not on what connects your body to the earth, but what connects your spirit to the sky."

"Right leg up, and flip your Dog!" ordered the yoga instructor, Brock, from up front.

Without a sound, Maura deftly flipped herself over with the grace of a seasoned dancer. Nora followed suit with less fluidity and a sigh. Jane, however, contented herself with simply crossing her right leg behind her left. "'Focus on what connects the spirit to the sky'," the detective mocked quietly with a glance at Nora. "No wonder your cousin is such a space cadet."

Nora let out a snort of laughter and her flipped Dog became a flopped Dog. A collective "SHH" echoed around the room as Jane slapped a hand over her own mouth and almost fell herself.

"Everything all right over here?" Brock, who had been watching the group with interest (he had had a number of flings with Maura and always watched her with interest, actually), leaned in between both Isles' and shot a quick grin at Maura before focusing his attention on the one on the ground. "Your Dog seems to have wanted a nap."

Nora smiled contentedly up from her yoga mat. "I'm good. Don't stop for me."

"You sure you're okay?"

Nora nodded.

"Alright then." With another grin at Maura, who gave him a sultry smile in return, the British instructor returned to the front of the studio. "Back to Downward Dog!"

Jane uncrossed her legs and dropped both hands to the floor again. She peered down at the young Isles, amusement glinting in her eyes. "You okay?"

"Never better." Nora stared at the ceiling with apparent interest. "Nice tile work up there."

"Always appreciating the finer things in life, you Isles girls," Jane quipped, the corners of her mouth twitching.

"Born that way, baby."

Another collective "SHH" and a sharp "Nora!" from her cousin was enough to encourage the student back onto her feet. With a cheeky grin at Jane, she slid gracefully into the Warrior pose and swiftly into the detective's good graces.

Monday could only be described in one word: chaotic.

For once, Jane was grateful that there were no new cases to deal with. Everybody and their mother seemed to be at the Boston Police Department…literally. It was a struggle just to get to the elevator with two coffee cups, what with so many people crowding the lobby.

"How and _why_ the hell did Cavanaugh get every department involved?" she muttered to herself, tapping the "down" elevator button with her ring finger with a glance down at her watch. "Dammit, when's she supposed to get here?"

Several people made to get in the lift with the detective when the doors opened, but turned away almost immediately as she smiled cynically and said, in her best Joker voice, "Going down?"

Jane entered the morgue backwards, not wanting to risk spilling her friend's tea. "Maura, they were out of skim milk, so I hope you don't mind the fat free—"

She stopped dead as she turned around and saw Dr. Isles calmly pause in the act of showing various autopsy instruments to a familiar-looking young girl. "Fat free is perfectly fine, Jane," the ME said amiably.

The girl, a young Italian beauty with eyes just like the detective's, grinned gently. "Hey, Janie."

"Anne." Bewildered, Jane set the coffee cups down by the sink. "I…wasn't expecting to see you down here, how are you?" Jane embraced her cousin happily, but mouthed over her shoulder to Maura, 'Where did you find her?'

'Your mother,' the ME mouthed back.

Jane rolled her eyes and pulled out of the hug to hold her cousin at arms length. "You look great, Annie."

Anne Rizzoli smiled radiantly. She was truly beautiful: big, intelligent brown eyes, long chestnut hair and a nose slightly larger than usual (thanks to a couple of breaks) all seemed to work on her. She was about Maura's height but had the same build as Jane: lean and athletic with fingers shaped for playing the piano. Jane took those hands in her own.

"Practicing a lot?"

"I teach now, actually. Little kids, under twelve."

"Good. I'm proud of you." Jane wasn't used to smiling so much, so after a pause she dropped Anne's hands and looked past her to Maura. "So, I see you met Dr. Isles already?"

"Yeah, she was just showing me some of her equipment," Anne said, sounding eager. She went to stand by the ME's side. "It's incredible, really. I love this kind of stuff."

Jane raised an eyebrow. "Really?"

Maura nodded at Anne. "She's quite anatomically enthusiastic."

The detective wasn't sure what to say. She never in a million years imagined that her cousin would have a flair for forensics, or that her new mentor would describe her eagerness so awkwardly. "Um…"

Luckily, at that moment, she noticed that someone was missing.

"Maura, where's your cousin?"

"I sent her upstairs to see Korsak and Frost," Maura replied, once more fully engrossed in showing the younger Rizzoli around. "She wasn't really interested in the morgue."

"Oh. Well, did she and Anne meet?"

Anne looked up from peering into a microscope. "Who did I meet?"

Maura shook her head. "No. She stayed in the elevator and your mother waved me over when I got to the lobby."

"Okay." Jane started back towards the door. "I'm going to get her and bring her back down before Tweedle Dum and Tweedle Dumber cause too much brain damage. You okay here, Anne?"

"Yep." The teenager was now donning latex gloves so she could examine the equipment around the autopsy table.

Jane walked out of the morgue feeling somewhat baffled. A Rizzoli in the morgue and an Isles up with Homicide…Bring Your Family To Work Day had definitely gotten off to a weird start. She boarded the elevator with a crowd of people, all of whom thankfully got off before they reached Jane's department. Jane pushed through the doors of the bullpen to find Nora Isles perched on Crowe's unoccupied desk, flipping through the precinct newsletter. She looked up and smiled as Jane approached her. "Hey, Jane."

"Hey. You all alone up here?"

With a sigh, Nora set the newsletter down and leaned on her knees. "Yep. Better than the morgue, though." She made a face. "Kinda freaks me out."

Jane nodded sympathetically. "I get that."

Nora let her gaze wander around the bullpen. "I like it up here. It's neat. Nice and quiet, too."

"Well, just wait til Frost and Korsak get here. My former and current partner," Jane explained. "But listen, Maura and I want you back downstairs, we'd like you to meet my cousin."

"Oh. Okay." Nora hopped down from Crowe's desk and followed Jane to the elevator. "Well, if she's anything like you, I like her already."

Jane shook her head but couldn't keep down a laugh. "Flatterer."

Nora smiled widely. "Whatever keeps me out of the morgue for the rest of the day."

Downstairs, Jane's head preceded the rest of her body into Maura's abode. "You two done exploring?"

Maura and Anne looked up: the ME from her office chair, Anne from her perch on Maura's desk. "Yeah, Jane, we're all set," the younger Rizzoli said with a laugh.

"Well, then, I'd like you to meet someone." Jane gestured Nora inside. "Anne, this is Nora Isles. Nora, this is my cousin, Anne Rizzoli."

The sudden silence that fell was totally unexpected. Jane watched her cousin's eyebrows furrow as she stared at the morgue entrance. "Nora?"

Her tone was full of surprised recognition. Baffled, Jane turned to Nora, and saw that the girl had frozen just inside the door. The expression on her face was nearly impossible for the detective to read, but she knew that whatever was going on behind those eyes wasn't good.

Nora's friendly tone surprised Jane even further. "H-hey, Anne," she said taking a couple unstable steps forward. "It's good to see you."

Maura looked from one girl to the other, a deep frown of concentration on her face. "You two know each other?"

"Yes," Anne replied, not taking her eyes off Nora.

Jane crossed her arms and mirrored Maura's gaze. "How?"

Nora swallowed hard. She clenched and unclenched her fists a couple times before she said, without changing her expression:

"She's my best friend."


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: **Yes, I know it's been a month…college is stressful. But I'm back! …ish. This chapter is kind of short, but necessary. I hope you're all still sticking with me! Huge thanks to Interp86, jkarr, Bookworm030, freezingren, and muderocksmyworld for the reviews on chapter 3. I love hearing what you guys think!

It had been fifteen minutes, and Nora still wasn't back from the bathroom. She had excused herself from the little gathering in the autopsy room almost as soon as the necessary why-your-cousin-knows-me explanations were complete and awkwardness had settled in. Maura had half-heartedly returned to showing Anne more autopsy instruments, and the student had an air of hesitancy about her as she followed the pathologist around. Both glanced at the door every time Jane, who was poking around by the sink, moved.

"Okay, this is getting ridiculous," the detective finally declared, twisting to face her cousin and friend. "Somebody has to go check on her."

Anne and Maura exchanged a look. Almost a full minute of silence passed among them, with all three women staring at each other, before Jane rolled her eyes and moved towards the exit. "Well, don't everybody jump at once, how are we possibly going to decide?"

"No, wait, Jane." Maura hurried over and placed a hand on her friend's arm to stop her. "I should go. She's my cousin, and my responsibility."

Jane sighed, sounding exasperated. "Maura, no offense, but if this is an emotional thing, you aren't really that good at dealing with people and these kinds of situations."

The ME frowned in surprise. "Offense taken! What do you mean I'm not good in situations like this?"

"Well, your head seems to get in the way. Not that intelligence is bad, but when dealing with people's emotions, you have to be able to shut down Maurapedia."

Maura tilted her head thoughtfully. "You know that shutting down one's mind is impossible, Jane. The saying 'I think, therefore I am', while curt in description, proves that thought is necessary for survival—"

"Okay, _this_ is what I was talking about," Jane interrupted with a wave of her hand, and started to push open the double doors.

"Hold on, Jane…" The younger Rizzoli approached her cousin, rubbing her neck uncertainly. "I should probably go. I mean, I'm her best friend, and she's—she's my…"

Anne gestured vaguely, clearly at a loss for words, and Jane grabbed her forearms to steer her away. "No, Annie." Jane kept her voice soft in hopes to not also offend her cousin. "I have a feeling that her hiding may have something to do with you. Just stay with Dr. Isles and I'll try to figure out what's wrong, okay?"

Anne looked away and nodded. Jane rubbed the girl's arms gently and turned back towards the door. "Back in a few."

Nora wasn't in the basement's ladies room. Undeterred, Jane took the elevator up to the first floor and checked the bathroom off of the BPD's café…still no Nora. The detective made her way to the counter, biting her lip anxiously.

"Ma, have you seen Nora anywhere?"

"Not since she came in with Dr. Isles this morning," Angela replied, handing a pastry to an officer standing by the cash register. "Why, is something wrong?"

"No, Ma, everything's fine. I've got it under control." Jane started out of the café, but a thought occurred to her and she spun on her heel. "Hey, who did Frankie bring to work today? I haven't seen him yet."

The elder Rizzoli glanced up from making a sandwich. "Me."

Jane frowned. "He brought _you_ to Bring Your Family To Work Day? You already work here, Ma."

Angela shrugged. "I was having car trouble, and Cavanaugh never said there was anything wrong with bringing someone who already worked here."

With a scoff, Jane turned back around and stalked out of the café. "Cheaters."

"I heard that!"

Back into the elevator, and up to the second floor: no Nora by Internal Affairs. Jane didn't bother checking near SORI—that department gave her the creeps—and took the stairs two at a time up to Homicide. She was beginning to worry that the young Isles had left the building completely when she heard a shuffling from within the ladies room. Without hesitation, Jane pushed open the door and stepped inside. The bathroom was small, with only two stalls and one sink, and the detective maneuvered herself so she could stop anybody else from trying to get in. "Nora?"

There was a large sniff from the handicapped stall, and Jane leaned down to see two feet curled up next to half a torso; she was sitting on the floor. Something gave a lurch in Jane's chest as the detective moved towards the stall. "Nora is that you?"

The feet shuffled. Then a strained voice said, "Yeah…yeah, hi, Jane."

Jane pressed her palm to the door. It was locked. "Sweetie, can you unlock the door?"

There was a brief pause. Jane heard another shuffle, the lock click, and the door swung open to reveal a very small-looking Nora Isles, curled up on the floor with her back against the wall, tears streaking her cheeks. The girl pushed her somewhat disheveled hair back from her face and offered Jane a sad, guilty smile. "I'm sorry…I shouldn't have stayed away this long."

Jane's eyes went wide. What? "What?" she asked aloud, bewilderment etched across her face.

Nora dropped her chin and shook her head. "I shouldn't have made you guys worry about me…you don't need to see me like this." With a very shaky sigh and another strained smile, the girl's watery gaze met Jane's. "I'm sorry."

If there was one thing in the world that Jane Rizzoli would never pride herself on, and probably deny her possession of it to her dying breath, it was maternal instinct. But as she heard a very vulnerable Nora Isles apologize for being upset, something stirred violently in her heart and the detective sank to her knees, reaching for the younger girl. "No, no, baby"—the term of endearment slipped easily from her lips and didn't feel wrong at all—"you have every right to feel this way, no matter what caused it."

Nora didn't resist being tucked into Jane's side and her fingers curled around a fold in the detective's jacket. "Jane…"

She trailed off weakly, and Jane pulled the girl close. "Oh, sweetie, please tell me what's making you this upset."

A silence fell. Jane wondered if she should just bite her tongue and tell Nora she didn't have to say anything. But then the girl spoke up, almost in a whisper.

"What are you and Maura like, when you're together?"

Jane paused, puzzled by the question. "I…I don't know. We talk, I guess. We…well, we live our lives together. My ma is in her guest house, so we eat a lot of meals together, and we work together, so…our lives just kind of melded." The detective began to rub Nora's arm in a comforting way when she felt the girl shaking. "Even if Ma didn't live with her and we weren't coworkers, I'm sure nothing would change that much. We'd work it out, because that's what best friends do."

"Oh, _why _can't Anne and I be that way?" Nora let out a sob and released Jane's jacket to slap a hand over her own mouth. "What is _wrong _with us? You just described everything that true best friends should be, and we aren't any of those things!"

Jane rested her chin on top of the young Isles' head, allowing the girl to bury her face into her neck. "Sweetie, why don't you tell me what's really going on between you and my cousin?"

"I can't…" Nora's voice was muffled against Jane's shoulder.

"Well, why not? I won't tell."

No answer. Jane waited a few more seconds and then very gently pushed Nora away so the girl was seated right in front of her. "Nora, I know that…you know, you're still at the age where every little problem you have in your life seems like the end of the world, but you have to trust me when I say it's not."

Something darkened in Nora's expression and she turned her eyes to meet Jane's. "You…you think I'm just being dramatic."

Whatever comforting smile the detective had on her face dropped clear off and was replaced by startled confusion. "Nora…"

"Jane, this problem has been two and a half _years _in the making. I…I…"

Nora's voice caught and her gaze darted around, like she was getting ready to make a run for it. Jane noticed this, and quickly reached out to her again. "No, honey, I'm sorry. I know you're hurt. Please…" Carefully, Jane wiped the dried tears off Nora's face and held it still. "I'm sorry. Will you please tell me what's going on? I promise, I won't make any more assumptions."

Nora bit her lip and looked down. Jane ducked her head under and tried to meet her gaze. "Please."

"You're going to hate me."

"Never," Jane whispered. Her mind was spinning—this whole maternal instinct thing was stressful. How did other women do this all the time?

The young Isles slowly lifted her hands and drew the detective's away from her face.

"Jane…I'm in love with your cousin, and she has no idea."


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: **This chapter is not edited, I warn thee now. Any errors are entirely my fault, but I wanted to get it up swiftly! Enormous thanks to Swishla, CloisDestiny, 13, and freezingren for reviews on chapter 4!

On a side note, if any of you have any questions about the story, just jot them down in a review or PM and I'll either message you back or write the answer down in the next chapter's A/N. I'd love to interact with you guys more; I can't even begin to tell you how much I appreciate you giving this story a chance, and want to answer any inquiries you may have!

So, without further ado, chapter 5!

The iPhone sitting on top of the refrigerator in the autopsy room vibrated loudly once, twice against the cool metal surface. Both Anne and Maura jumped before the latter went to retrieve the phone, grateful for a break in the tense silence. "It's a text from Jane," she said, tapping on the surface gently.

Anne sidled up to her and leaned over. "What does it say?"

"_Found Nora, up in Homicide. Korsak and Frost here finally, bring Anne_. Well. Short, sweet, and to the point."

Maura looked at Anne. Anne looked at Maura. There was a brief silence before the brunette leaned back a couple inches. "What?"

"Nothing." The ME pushed away from the fridge and started towards the exit. "You look a lot like Jane, that's all."

"You don't look anything like Nora," Anne responded, following her.

Maura pushed open the door and paused long enough to give Anne a backwards look. "I was adopted."

The Rizzoli pondered this for a second, then shrugged. "It makes more sense now."

Up in Homicide, a collected Nora and a tense Jane were being introduced to the relatives of the other two members of the detective family.

"Jane, this is my sister Lisa," Korsak said, placing a protective hand on the arm of the blonde woman in front of him. "Lives in Brookline. I think you two met when we were partners, back at a couple police events?"

"Yes, it's nice to see you again," Jane said, giving Lisa as genuine a smile she could muster.

Lisa grinned back. "Vince says the most wonderful things about you and Detective Frost. Every time I tell him it's time to start thinking about retirement, he has six or seven new stories and even more new reasons to stay on the force. He's very happy with you two."

"Lise, what are you, my mother?" Korsak said, guiding his sister sideways so he could stand beside her. He nodded at Nora, who was gazing around the bullpen in a distracted manner. "So who's this?"

"Oh." Jane turned around and laid a hand on Nora's arm, gently leading her to her side. "I don't know if it's really my place to introduce her, but this is Dr. Isles' cousin, Nora."

"Oh, you're Nora Isles!" Korsak's eyebrows went up as he held out a hand. "No wonder I didn't see any family resemblance."

Jane frowned. "To who?"

"Doesn't matter, isn't Maura adopted?"

Nora took Korsak's hand with a small smile and shook. "It's nice to meet you, Sergeant Detective."

"Oh, please, call me Vince. Or Korsak. Whichever you prefer."

"How about Conversation Hog?" Frost appeared at Jane's other arm and extended his own hand towards Nora. "Barry Frost. I'll answer to both."

"As well as Detective Bighead," Korsak quipped as Frost and Nora shook. "Hey, there you are, Doc! Who's this?"

Everybody but Nora spun to see Maura and Anne enter the bullpen. The younger Isles shut her eyes, pinched the bridge of her nose and let out a breath, going unnoticed by all but Jane. The detective reached across Nora to gently turn her around by the shoulder, sliding her arm subtly around the girl's waist once she was about-face. "That's my cousin, Sergeant Detective," Jane said, eager to get this over with. "Anne, meet Detectives Barry Frost and Vince Korsak. They're my partners up here in Homicide."

As Korsak and Frost hurried to shake Anne's hand, Maura's gaze fell on Jane and Nora's colliding hips, her cousin's downcast face, and finally met Jane's stare. Her eyes asked a serious question, but Jane inclined her head with a pointed glance at Anne. The pathologist raised an eyebrow but turned her attention back to the other people in the bullpen. "It's nice to see you again, Lisa," Maura said, carefully not forgetting Korsak's younger sister.

"Her memory never fails to impress me," Jane muttered out of the corner of her mouth. Nora smiled very slightly and glanced at her cousin, allowing Anne to sidle up to her unnoticed.

"Hey."

Nora jumped a bit as Anne's hip pressed gently into her own. Jane felt the jolt, looked to her left, saw Anne right there and swiftly moved away from the teenagers in one fluid motion. Nora was suddenly aware of the lack of warmth on her waist, all of her senses going into hyperalert. "Hi."

"You doing okay?"

Nora nodded and felt a familiar fake smile of reassurance creep onto her face. "Yeah, I'm all right."

Anne crossed her arms. "You're sure."

Nora shrugged and looked down. Anne's eyes swept over her friend once before she sighed. "Okay." She tightened her grip on herself. "You can talk to me, if you want."

With a half-hearted grin, the Isles girl met the Rizzoli's gaze. "Thanks."

"Hey Anne, Nora."

Both girls looked right and simultaneously moved to stand by their cousins, facing Detective Frost and another young man in the middle of the bullpen. "Yes, Detective?" Anne asked. Her gaze darted up and down, swiftly taking in the boy next to Frost. Nora glanced sideways, and felt something turn in her insides. She didn't like that look on Anne's face.

"Everybody…" Frost clapped a hand on the boy's shoulder, pride clearly etched into his expression. "This is my nephew, Alfred Edward Lawrence the Fourth. Top of his class at Boston College High School, black belt, and accepted into the Boston Police Academy, full scholarship."

The boy—Alfred Edward Lawrence the Fourth—flashed a smile full of pearly whites. "Please, call me Alfie. It's a pleasure to meet you all."

"The pleasure is all ours, Mister Lawrence," Maura said, sounding extremely impressed, and reached out to be the first to shake Alfie's hand.

"Thoroughly," Jane consented, eyebrows raised in surprise, and shook next.

"Completely."

The agreement was almost inaudible, but Nora had years ago fine-tuned her ear to that voice. She looked at Anne—her familiar, her best friend, the cousin of her cousin's best friend, the clandestine love of her life—and felt her heart nearly stop at the sight of a spark of intrigued appreciation, directed at Alfred Lawrence, shining clearly in the other girl's eyes.

Welcome to Boston.


	6. Chapter 6, Part 1

**A/N: **I realized that I needed to get this conversation out of the way so that the REAL drama can start, so…real quick, here's chapter 6, part 1! Muchas gracias por los comentarios del capitulo 5, Swishla and stargazer982 . I'll get up the second part as soon as I can!

Disclaimer! No soy dueño "Rizzoli&Isles", o "Wake Me Up Before You Go Go".

"_You take the grey skies out of my day…you make the sun shine brighter than Doris Day…"_

Jane knew who it was from across the room—she didn't even need to look at the caller ID. She and Maura had had some fun changing around her ringtones one night when they were both partially drunk, and the ME had insisted that hers be changed from the funeral march. What compelled her to chose Wham!, Jane never really knew, but didn't bother changing it back; it kind of suited the mood the pathologist usually put her in.

"What's that, Jane?"

Jane hopped on one foot towards the other side of the living room, yanking on a sneaker. "Just my phone, Annie!" She picked up said device off the desk and looked towards the guest room. "You going to rejoin the land of the living again soon?"

"Lay off, I was tired," came the irritated protest. "Isn't enough you poked me awake in the first place?"

"You disappeared, and I was afraid you died or something. It's my place, I'll lay off when I want to."

"God, you sound like my mother…"

"For the next month, I AM your mother!" Jane hit the "talk" button and brought the cell to her ear. "What's up, Maur?"

"I don't know what I'm supposed to say to her!"

Jane frowned and placed a hand on her hip. "Say what to who?"

"Nora! I don't know what I'm supposed to say about today!" Maura was clearly frazzled. "When we got in, she immediately retreated to the guest room, and I haven't seen her since, but when she comes out, we should talk, because it's normal for hosts to interact with their guests, but something happened today and I don't know what it was so we can't talk about it unless I ask her what happened and I can't figure out if or how I should proceed to do so!"

Jane set the phone onto the desk and turned on speakerphone so she could pull her hair into a loose ponytail. "Maura, you do realize how long and structurally incorrect that sentence just was, don't you?"

"Jane." Maura sighed over the phone. "Please, save me the agony and just _tell me what's wrong with my cousin_."

"Maura…" Jane sighed and rubbed her forehead before bringing the phone back up to her ear. "Have you asked her about today?"

"No! We drove home in complete silence. I haven't said a word to her since we left."

"Well, I really don't think it's my place to tell you. She's your cousin, and you have to ask her yourself."

Maura let out a huff, and silence fell over the phone just as Anne walked into the living room, holding two hats and reluctantly garbed in athletic shorts and a Boston Homicide baseball shirt. Jane gave her cousin a thumbs-up, which the younger Rizzoli responded with a grimace. "I look like a guy," she complained.

Jane gave her cousin a quick once-over with her eyes. "You're a very pretty and clean-smelling guy, in that case."

"What?"

"Not you, Maura," Jane said into the phone, skillfully catching the hat Anne tossed to her. "But think about what I said, okay? She probably needs someone."

The pathologist sighed, and Jane could picture her standing with her eyes shut, one hand contemplatively on her jaw. "Alright, I'll give it a try."

"Good. See you in a bit."

"Bye."

Jane hit the "end" button and went to the door, dropping the phone into her bat bag before swinging it over her shoulder and turning to face Anne. "You ready to go?"

The teenager tugged at her sleeves uncertainly, and didn't respond. Jane's eyebrows furrowed. "Anne."

Anne looked up, eyes dark. "Was that about Nora?"

"The talk with Maura?" Anne nodded, and Jane copied. "Yeah, it was." The detective noted how her cousin's expression didn't adjust and decided it was time to change the subject. She reached out and gave Anne's cap a flick upwards, smiling. "Hey. Get your head in the game. We've got a Drug Unit to beat."

For a second, Anne looked like she wasn't going to let the subject drop, but allowed a small grin onto her face after some consideration. "Frankie and Aunt Angela playing?"

"Oh, yeah." Jane threw an arm around her cousin as they left the apartment. "Today, the Rizzoli's take Boston by storm!"


	7. Chapter 6, Part 2

**A/N: **Here it is, part 2! I hope you guys like it! Thank you to LiveLoveLikeMe and my dedicated reviewer Swishla for the reviews of part 1!

Disclaimer: Not mine. All credit for Maura's advice to Nora goes to a wise man named Taylor, who gave me the exact same advice not too long ago. This chapter's for him!

"Come on, Frankie, swing it hard!"

It was the bottom of the third inning, and Homicide was up 3-1. Frankie Rizzoli Jr. was getting into focus at the plate, two balls and a strike already against him. Jane stood to the side of the bench, cheering her brother on as she took some practice swings.

"Nice cut, Frankie," she shouted encouragingly as he swung and missed the next pitch. "Just gimme someone to bring home."

From behind the plate, Crowe looked over at her and smiled wickedly as he tossed the ball back to the pitcher. "Already thinking about a post-game condolence round, Rizzoli?"

"Just catch the damn ball, Crowe," she shot back, taking an extra powerful swing at the air. Crowe shrugged and crouched back down with the smile still on his lips, only to have it fall off seconds later as Frankie smacked a ground-ruled double into center field. The Homicide bench burst into applause, and Maura looked over at Jane to give her a thumbs-up. Jane winked at the ME and approached the plate, grinning satisfactorily.

"Enjoying the taste of those words yet?" she muttered to Crowe as she got into position, bracing her feet against the ground.

"Don't hurt yourself swinging too hard, I know how delicate you ladyfolk are," he replied, stretching to catch an outside ball. "Where's your miniskirt?"

"Right next to yours, I expect." She leaned back as the next pitch came dangerously close to her jaw. Ball two.

"My girlfriend likes to roleplay," Crowe shot back. "I'd invite you to come along, but the thought of a threeway with a butch kinda creeps me out."

Jane swung at the third pitch and missed, distracted by the flame of anger Crowe lit in her. Strike one. "Don't you have some other chick to tool on?"

"Well, yeah." He caught another high one. Ball three. "Your cousin hasn't gotten up to bat yet. Looks a lot like you. How old is she, eighteen? Even at that age, I'm sure she has more experience than you."

Jane missed the next one, now seeing red. Strike two. "You even glance at her, Crowe, and I'll feed your balls to Jo Friday."

"That's okay. I'll just borrow yours."

Something snapped, and she swung.

CRACK.

Jane connected with such force that the bat vibrated as she fluidly let it swing around her body to smack Crowe in the face. She took off on her home-run, David Ortiz-esque jog around the diamond, smiling as she heard her mother and Maura cheering over everybody else in Homicide. The Drug basemen were still staring after the ball as she rounded second and third. Jane slapped multiple hands on the last straightaway, reaching home plate with a hug for Frankie and a pat on the head for the bruised Crowe.

"And _that_ is how we ladyfolk get it done."

Crowe slapped her hand away, mumbling unintelligibly while trying to stem the flow of blood from his nose. With a laugh, Jane exaggerated a strut back to the bench, slapping Frost on the back as he went up to bat. She plunked herself down in between Nora and Maura. "What a game," she said, grabbing Maura's water bottle out of her hand and taking a long drink.

"Excuse me," the pathologist said, and snatched the bottle back. "That would be _mine_."

Jane took it again with a gesture away from the bench. "_You're _on deck. Go take a couple practice swings."

"I don't think I need to." Maura crossed one ankle behind the other and looked at Jane pointedly. "As you're well aware, I am very well adapted to the optimum rigid-body batting stance and the rest is just an angular and trajectory analysis. I could do it in my sleep."

"Ugh, how many times do I have to tell you—a ninety degree angle to the ground is not a good batting stance!" Jane groaned, taking another swig of water.

Maura bit her lip, and after a couple of seconds, she sighed in defeated frustration. "Fine." The ME stood up, tied her hair back quickly, and reached for her waistband. "But I'm going like _this_."

Jane's expression changed from shock to irritation as her best friend pulled her shorts down, and simultaneously, the legs of her skintight, black-and-red running suit. "Oh, come on, Maura! Really? You were hiding that under there?"

"Of course," Maura replied innocently. She removed her Boston Homicide T-shirt and rolled the suit's sleeves down her arms, then leaned forward to look Jane in the eye. "You want us to win, don't you?"

Jane's eyes flicked between both of Maura's and she couldn't help a small grin of amusement. "And that getup's our good luck charm or something?"

"Exactly." Maura flipped her T-shirt in Jane's face and jogged down the bench to retrieve a bat.

Nora plucked the shirt off of Jane's head, smiling. "I wouldn't have let her leave the house if I knew she was wearing that."

"Yeah, well, just be advised for next time." The detective folded the shirt around her hands and looked around at her team. She stopped when her gaze fell on Anne, at the far end of the bench with her back turned, and jerked her chin in her cousin's direction. "You okay with that?"

Nora turned her head and watched Anne as she spoke animatedly with Alfie, completely unaware of anything and anybody else around her. "Truth?"

She glanced back at Jane, who nodded, and faced forward again with a sigh. "It makes my stomach burn. I keep telling myself 'It's no big deal, she just met the kid, nothing's going on', but I know when she likes a guy." Nora rubbed her hands up and down her arms, trying to smooth out the goosebumps that suddenly appeared on her skin. "And I'll admit, it hurts. A lot."

The pain in the young Isles' expression was anything but obvious; however, Jane picked up on it almost immediately. She laid her hand on the girl's back and rubbed gently. "Look…I can't promise you it'll get better, but hopefully it'll get easier to deal with. I mean, you've got me, right? And didn't you talk to Maura?"

"_I'm ready to go."_

"_Look, Nora…I think we need to talk."_

"Yeah, I did."

"Good." Jane looked up as Crowe called the third strike for Frost, signaling the top of the fourth inning. "Come on, we've got to take the field." She pulled Nora to her feet and wrapped her in a brief hug. "Try not to worry about it too much right now, okay?"

"I'll try," the Isles replied, muffled in Jane's shoulder.

"Alright, field assignments!" Cavanaugh barked as Jane let go of Nora and they joined the team circled around him. "Frost, pitcher. Fields, catcher. Jane first, Frankie second, little Rizzoli short, Nolan third. Lanie Fields left field, Lisa center, little Isles right. Everybody else grab some bench, we're putting you in next inning."

Nora glanced behind her and instantly wished she didn't. Anne had a large smile on her face as she picked up her glove and left Alfie with a brush of her hand over his knee, causing the Isles' stomach to twist. She shook her head violently and jogged towards right field, wishing she could keep focus.

"_Maura, can't we do this later?"_

"_No. I'm worried about you. Please…I have to know what's going on."_

Nora swung her arms around in an idle stretch, watching Frost send a few practice pitches in Detective Fields' direction. She looked to her left to admire the wood just off the field; Jane had told her that they didn't usually use this diamond to play, but the trees provided a desirable amount of shade from the hot afternoon sun.

"Strike him out, Frost, that's it!"

"_I don't want things to be weird for you and Jane."_

"_Well, if whatever it is really affects us that much, we'll talk it out. That's what best friends do."_

"_Yeah, well…"_

The Drugs guy at the plate hit a hard ball to shortstop and bolted towards first. Anne deftly plucked it off the ground and threw it to Jane, who stretched and caught it for their first out. Nora wished she could smile about it, but was beginning to feel embarrassed as she recalled more of her talk with Maura.

"_How could you not have known how you were feeling for years?"_

"_It's not that I didn't know what I was feeling, Maura, so much as I…mislabeled those emotions. I never had a true best friend before, so it was easy to think such dedication was normal."_

"…_I can understand that confusion."_

At the bench, Maura was cheering her head off as Jane made another spectacular out at first. Nora briefly wondered what kind of emotional misunderstanding the doctor may have had when it came to the detective.

"_The worst part is that…I don't know how to get over it. I want to get over it, I want to start to heal, but I can't figure out the best thing to do. I'm going to lose her no matter what, it feels like."_

A Drug man named Gaff hit a ball into left field, sending Detective Fields' daughter running after it and giving him an easy triple. Crowe got up to bat with a smile in Jane's direction, confidently getting into position.

"_Nora…" Maura placed her hand over her cousin's on the counter, surprising the girl. "I think it's best if you seek out your own death. Tell her. If she loves you too, you can move up from there. If not, you can start to heal. You won't get anywhere if you just let it lie. You have to let these feelings go."_

CRACK.

Nora was shaken out of her reveries as Crowe hit a hard foul into the wood, causing groans from both sides.

"That was our last ball, you idiot!"

"What the hell, Crowe!"

"Guys, calm down!" Nora shouted, already running into the trees. "I'll get it!"

It was eerily quiet in the wood. The thick oak leaves muffled sound and let in the barest amount of sunlight, speckled across the twig-covered ground. The Isles stepped cautiously over roots, looking around for an out-of-place white spot amongst the foliage. She turned around after walking a fair few yards, and realized she couldn't see the field anymore. "Wonderful," she whispered to herself, and as a precaution, tossed her glove back in the direction she came from. "Exactly what I needed—a Hansel and Gretel experience, a la Boston." With a sigh, Nora turned again and continued to tread carefully further into the forest.

Back in the field, Jane rested with her gloved hand on her hip, squinting into the trees after Nora.

"Any sight of her?"

She shook her head as she felt the ME come to her side. "Those woods are thick, she disappeared almost the second she walked in."

"I hope she's okay." Dr. Isles crossed her arms. "You never know who could be hiding in there."

Jane glanced over at Maura with an amused smile. "She's hunting for a baseball in the middle of the afternoon next to a field full of cops. Nobody's stupid enough to try to pull something on her."

"_Jane!_"

The detective stiffened, then took several large steps closer to the wood. "Nora?" she called, alarm laced in her voice.

"_JANE!"_

The Rizzoli took off at a run towards the trees with Maura hot on her heels. "Nora, where are you?"

Just as they reached the edge of the wood, the younger Isles suddenly appeared, running full-tilt towards the pair of them. "JANE!"

"Hey, hey!" The detective caught the girl as she nearly barreled past them, steadying her and turning her around. "What happened? Did you see something?"

Nora gasped for breath, chest heaving, and dropped the baseball to the ground, where it lay forgotten. She raised her eyes to meet Jane's and swallowed hard.

"A body. Jane…there's a body in there."


	8. Chapter 7

**A/N: **Hello again, dedicated readers! I hope you all enjoyed the last chapter :) I have to warn you all, though: starting now (and forgive my bluntness), this shit's gettin' legit. I'm gonna slip in humor where I can—because seriously, what's a case without a few wisecracks from Korsak or Janie?—but for the most part, we're diving into serious waters here. Old faces will come back, new faces will move forward, plans will be made, hearts will be broken, resolve will be tested, emotions will run as high as they can, and more than one of our girls may be in for the fight of their lives…I plan on turning these characters inside out and pushing them to their limit before this story is through, and I seriously can't wait. Are you with me? Good!

**Disclaimer! **They're not mine!

It like déjà vu with a twist, walking into the bullpen fully garbed in a makeshift softball uniform after discovering a startling new case in the middle of a game. The only real difference, Jane acknowledged briefly, was the fact that she had Nora Isles in tow and her own cousin was down in the morgue with Maura.

"Dr. Isles started the autopsy yet?" Korsak asked, looking up from his desk. Lisa sat apprehensively by his side with her head bowed—Jane silently cursed the murderer for his incredibly bad timing before nodding.

"She's gonna call us when it's done. DNA's already been sent out and she'll let us know when that's through as well."

Korsak nodded and frowned slightly. "Anne down there with her?"

Jane sat down at her desk. "Yeah, why?"

Korsak shrugged and faced his computer again. "Seems like a lot for a kid that age to take in all in one day."

"Well, she's a Rizzoli with an Isles interest in forensics, I think she'll be fine." Reluctantly, Jane motioned for Nora to sit. "We have to go through what happened again, Nora. I gotta put it on record."

The Isles nodded and sat down, wringing her hands. "I get that."

Jane picked up a pen, pulled her notepad towards her, and looked across the desk, unspoken apologies in her dark eyes but the rest of herself in full-on detective mode. "How did you come across the body?"

"I was in the woods, looking for a baseball one of our players hit into the trees," Nora began, following Jane's instructions and pretending she was talking to a stranger. "I saw the ball stuck between a couple of roots a good distance in. It was kind of dark and I really wanted to get back to the game, so I ran towards the ball and ended up tripping over something under a layer of leaves."

"And what was that you tripped over?"

Nora shivered involuntarily. "I thought it was a weird tree root at first, but when I got to my feet to look at it…it was looking at me."

Jane felt her stomach twist but determinedly kept character. "How much of the body did you inadvertently uncover?"

"Her face and one of her arms. I…I think I knocked her sideways when I tripped. The way her legs were positioned…she must have been spread-eagle." Nora swallowed a painfully large lump in her throat and took a shaky breath. "It terrified me."

"But you don't know the woman?"

"No."

Jane glanced up from her paper. "What was the first thing your instincts told you to do after you found the body?"

Nora raised her eyes to meet the detective's. "Find you. As fast as possible."

"Which you did."

Nora nodded and looked down at the desk. Jane idly flipped the pen through her fingers before jotting down one last concluding fact on the notepad. "Okay." She tore the paper off and grabbed a strip of tape. "We're good." Dropping character, the detective circled her desk to crouch beside the teenager, laying a warm hand on her knee. "Hey," she said in a low, soothing voice. "You did good. And we're gonna figure this out, okay? We'll bring her justice."

Eyes closed, Nora slowly shook her head. "I can't stop seeing her face," she muttered, clenching and unclenching her fingers.

"Well…" Jane took the girl's unsteady hands in her own. "Sometimes it takes a while to get over." She ducked her head down so she could look Nora in the eye. "But you've got me, right? And Maura. And Annie as well, I'm sure."

Nora scoffed gently. "Yeah, but for how long?"

The detective didn't get a chance to think of a reply, for at that moment Frost pushed through the bullpen doors, Alfie in tow, and called her attention. "Jane!"

Both she and Nora looked at them. Nora reluctantly returned the nod Alfie sent in her direction, and Jane dropped the Isles' hands. "Maura find something?"

"Dunno. Haven't been down there. But listen, we've got another body."

"What?" Jane stood. "We're getting a second case?"

Frost shook his head. "Maybe not. CSRU says they found something that might connect this victim with the one we found earlier." His gaze flicked briefly at Nora before he gestured out the door. "You need a ride?"

Slightly stunned, it took Jane a moment to find words again. "No, I'm good."

Frost looked at Korsak. "Serge?"

"I'm taking Lisa home before going there," Korsak replied, already picking up his keys.

"See you guys there, then." Frost turned and led Alfie towards the elevator. Korsak and Lisa followed, exchanging goodbyes with the two remaining women in the bullpen.

With a heavy sigh, Jane pulled her belt out of the desk and clipped it on, adjusting it so her detective's badge sat above her right leg. "Do you want to go down and stay with Maura?" she asked Nora, taking out her cell to send the pathologist a text, to let her know what was coming.

"Given the choice between the two of them, I think I'll pick the dead body that I did _not _trip over, thanks," Nora replied with a bit of derision, standing to follow Jane out the door.

The detective glanced back at her with a bit of surprise. "Are you sure you're an Isles? That was premium Rizzoli sarcasm right there."

Nora shrugged as they pushed out the door of Homicide. "My dad is the youngest of six kids. Maura's father is his eldest brother, and I always thought the prim and proper, live-the-high-life gene got lost somewhere in the years and sisters between them." She stepped into the elevator behind Jane and pushed the ground floor button. "We're the 'normal' Isles'. I like it that way."

Jane quirked an eyebrow. "No world travel, boarding school, or lobster for you?"

"A yearly trip to visit my mother's family in New Jersey, a tri-town secondary school district, and franks and beans every Saturday for my family." Nora met Jane's gaze and was finally able to smile. "Tradition over triumph, that's how I see it."

The detective grinned back. "I like that."

The elevator doors opening as well as a buzzing interrupted their conversation. Jane pulled out her phone as they stepped out and pressed a couple buttons. "Anne's sticking around to see the rest of the autopsy," she said. "Looks like it's just you and me. You ready?"

"As I'll ever be."


End file.
